


Life on board the Moby Dick

by Lerya



Series: Lerya's big bag of one-shots [16]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, I accept prompts, M/M, different aspects of what could have happened, one shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:20:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28465962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lerya/pseuds/Lerya
Summary: A series of One shots partaining the life of the Whitebeard Pirates, and Portgas D. Ace.Mostly written because I am not, nor will I be ever, over Marineford, and I need more WBP content.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Whitebeard Pirates, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Portgas D. Ace & Whitebeard Pirates
Series: Lerya's big bag of one-shots [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831972
Comments: 46
Kudos: 146





	1. Ace’s first days on the Moby Dick

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, here I am with a new fic!  
> Update date will be every monday, but with it being Ace's birthday on the 1st I just couldn't resist!

When Ace woke, he did so with a groan, feeling terrible as he tried to remember just where he was. However, as he looked around what was obvious an infirmary, he paled, this was not the infirmary on the Piece of Spadille, not did he see Deuce anywhere near.

Putting his hands to his hair, he thought back about what had happened, them coming to an island to find the Shichibukai Jimbe waiting for them, telling him that he wouldn’t just let him go after Whitebeard because he wanted to.

They had fought, for a very long time, multiple days even, before he had won against the fishman.

Thinking about what happened after had his eyes widening, he had seen the large ship approach, recognizing the flag ship of the Whitebeard Pirates, after all the research he did after its captain.

When said captain came ashore, a small delegation of commanders following him, he had done what he had deemed right and pulled up a wall of fire between him and his crew, telling Deuce to run. He didn’t know what the man would do, to him, or his crew, after this stunt.

But he also knew he was in no state to even win a fight against a Yonko, but he had to try, if only to give his crew a chance to escape. He had personally persuaded all of them to go out to sea with him, so for them to also meet their end at one of his stupid ideas was not something he wanted.

But he hadn’t died, he was here in the Moby Dick, if he deduced it right, trapped on an enemy ship some miles away from land, without his crew, without anyone really.

Running hands through his hair, he despaired in the ending he would find here. He couldn’t even get off, as a devil fruit user, he would just drown, not make it back to his crew. Which would not only be a moot point, but would also break his promise to Luffy, he would never take his own life, and always live without regrets.

Hearing footsteps approach, he covered himself with the sheet again, pretending to be asleep and maybe learn something from the people approaching.

Marco sighed as he entered the infirmary, with one of the nurses at his side, it would seem the little firecracker Oyaji had kidnapped hadn’t woken up yet. Shame, he wanted to ask the boy what went through his mind, thinking he could just attack them after going at it with Jimbe for the better part of 5 days.

Sighing, he turned to the nurse, “you checked him for any injuries?”

The nurse, April, nodded, “I did, nothing that his devil fruit didn’t fix up in a moment, I guess he’s still asleep after that horrible fight he had with Jinbei-san.”

Marco hummed, “he should be waking up son, though, it might make his crew less agitated, especially with the way they have been following us since the island we picked this firecracker up.”

April nodded, “if anything they are a dedicated crew, coming after their captain.”

Marco nodded, “I wonder how he’s going to react when Oyaji asks him to become on of us, though. That old man, still going around kidnapping upstarts to add them to this crew of misfits.”

April giggled, “don’t deny it, Marco-taicho, you love this crew of misfits.”

Marco nodded, “that I do. Now I need to go check on Oyaji again, will you be coming with?”

April nodded, “if you don’t mind, I don’t think Portgas here will go anywhere while we’re away.”

As the footsteps left the infirmary again, taking the voices with them, Ace opened his eyes again.

Cursing Deuce, and his crew, for actually being an incredible loyal bunch, who would indeed follow after a ship with a crew they couldn’t hope to handle, just to save his sorry ass.

He can already see Deuce in front of him, hands on his hips and he gets chewed out for ever doubting that his crew would come after him. Not only that, but how could he possibly think that he, Portgas D. Ace, would have gathered a crew that would leave their captain behind.

Especially when said captain was the reason, they were all here together, and having great adventures.

Ace shoved the sheet down, frowning as he mulled over something else, he had heard, that Whitebeard wanted to offer him a place among his crew, make him one of them.

He scoffed, he came here to take the man’s head, to let the world know he had it in him to be a great pirate, and to make a name for himself detached from the cursed name he carried because of his father. Not that anyone knew that they would never know that, seeing as his real name getting out would mean his dead sentence.

Slipping out of the cot, he found his boots and hat next to the bed, along with his log pose and dagger, making him tilt his head, before shrugging.

At least that didn’t take it away or threw it overboard.

He sneaked out into the hallway, which was surprising easily, for a ship which was said to hold a crew of 1600 people. But he managed, with ease, finding an unused closet to hide in, while he conducted a plan to take Whitebeard’s head.

One of the first things he did after night had fallen was to sneak into the communications room, planning on calling his crew to let them know he was fine and for them to back off. That he would join them soon enough as soon as he killed Whitebeard.

However, the moment he opened the door to the communications room, a man was waiting there for him. The tuff of blond hair, lazy slant to his eyes and huge tattoo on his chest was a dead give-away for the ship’s first mate: Marco the Phoenix.

Before he could turn around again, the blond looked him right in the eye; “did you really think we had no idea where you were hiding-yoi?”

Ace grinded his teeth, so it had been so easy because they knew he was there, not because he was good at sneaking around.

The blond threw something at him, making Ace catch in on reflex, it was a baby den-den mushi, “you were going to call your crew, right-yoi?”

Ace didn’t say anything, even if that was what he wanted to do, he didn’t want to give the enemy any more info than they had already deduced.

The blond in front of him sighed, “you should call them, they’ve been worried.”

Ace sneered, “why do you care, I’m here to take you captain’s head, not to become friends with anyone on board.”

The blond snorted, “that’s what most of them say, good luck with that.”

With that he turned and made his way out of the communications room, he had wanted to see for himself that the little firecracker was alright and already planning to proceed with his plans. A grin came onto Marco’s face, he always liked to see the new ones trying to find a way to adapts, some did so violently, it seemed that Portgas D. Ace fell into that category, or some just lost their will to live, until the crew pulled them out of their slump.

Stopping a few steps out of the room he had just exited, he could hear the other’s voice as he talked to the den-den mushi, no doubt doing exactly as Marco had told him to do. Still grinning, the man made his way to Oyaji’s room, wanting to inform his captain that their newest hopeful was in full preparation.

Deuce had chewed him out, even over the Den-den, calling him a stupid captain, and even stupider for thinking they were going to leave him all alone on an enemy ship.

Ace had tried to calm his first mate, with saying he had it handled, and that they should just back off.

Which only served to get the blue haired man yelling at him again, that he, they, would never leave him alone, even if he wanted to do something stupid. He was a stupid captain, but he was their stupid captain, and nothing he did or said would change that.

Smiling slightly, Ace relented and told them to stay on course then, to pick him up after he had taken the older captain’s head.

Deuce had sighed and asked if he actually though he could pull that off. Ace had been confident he could, and told his crew as such, telling them he’s be over on the Piece of Spadille within the week, with a new title and a new reputation.

However, three months later, as well as numerous attempts on Whitebeard’s life, he had to confess to Deuce that it hadn’t worked after all.

His former first mate had snorted, before telling all their new brothers and sisters of what Ace had told him that first night, or the first night he was awake, about how he would take Whitebeard’s head within the week and they’d be on their merry way.

More than one of their new siblings had started laughing, having been warned by Marco that their new brother would be the violent kind, even if it never showed to anyone but Whitebeard. Ace never attacked any of the commanders, or the other crew members, because he wasn’t that kind of pirate. He didn’t enjoy causing other people to hurt or suffering, he just wanted to be free.

It had taken that one conversation with Marco, when his resolve to go after Whitebeard’s head had cracked almost completely to understand that if he did succeed in taking Whitebeard’s head, he would still hurt people – those who called themselves his children.

It had given him a lot to think about, somethings he talked over with the blond on the ship, and others he called Deuce for. In the end, after a week of back and forth, and all the Spades agreement he relented and approached Whitebeard.

The man had laughed as he came into his private quarters all subdued and quiet.

“This is not a good start for an assassination attempt, brat.”

Ace had shaken his head, “this isn’t one, I… I talked with Marco, and with Deuce, and have come to a decision, I just wanted to ask you something first.”

Whitebeard hummed, filling his dish with sake as he looked at his, hopefully, newest son.

“What would you do if Gol D. Roger had a son?”

Whitebeard looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “I could care less, we’re all children of the sea on this ship, no matter your parentage, past or future.”

Ace, chocked back some tears, “I… I want to be recognized without that man’s legacy hanging above me, thing I could do that here.”

Whitebeard grinned at him, his moustache curling upwards as he smiled, “I’m sure we can help you with that, son.”

“Thanks… Oyaji.”


	2. The Spades boarding the Moby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Bet you weren’t expecting that as I usually don’t upload on weekends, and unless you read the recent reviews, or you are part of my Discord Channel, you wouldn’t know I was planning to. But today is my birthday (yay, 28 as of today – the 3rd of January).  
> Enjoy the reading and let me know what you think of it! :D

After having asked his question to Whitebeard, and getting an answer he didn’t expect, Ace had to smile as he realised, he had accepted to be taken into the Whitebeard Pirates.

He was also not surprised to the see the blond first mate of said pirates to once again be waiting for him in the communications room, as a sort of reminder of their first meeting, all those months ago.

“I take it your talk with Oyaji went well then, with such a smile on your face-yoi?”

Ace nodded, “yeah it did, I just… I had a question I wanted to ask him before I agreed to join, and I really liked the answer, so I made my choice.”

Marco grinned, “and we’re glad you made that-yoi.”

Turning around, the blond picked up a den-den mushi, holding it out for him as he turned to face Ace again.

“I’m thinking you’re going to call your crew to let them know of your decision-yoi?”

Ace nodded, suddenly careful, “I… does the invite extend to them too, or…?”

Marco looked at him, and the way his newest crewmembers was suddenly very shy and taken aback.

“Of course, it also extends to them, we offered them to board a few times when they called into check-up on you-yoi. But they refused seeing as you hadn’t made your decision yet. Cell them and tell them to pull up next to us by morning, I’ll make sure we have some of the storage crew on hand to store the ship-yoi.”

Ace tilted his head, looking at Marco with a question in his eyes, making the blond laugh.

“You’re not the first captain, and crew, that get taken into by us, we know better than others that a ship has a soul, and we’d never ask them to leave her behind-yoi. We keep a storage dock of sorts in the hull, where we put those ships. They can come in handy when we need to take a small team out for a mission-yoi.”

Ace hummed, smiling that they wouldn’t need to leave behind the Piece of Spadille, she had been such a great ship for their journey, and felt just like another member of the Spades.

“Now, make your calls, so we can have the whole crew aboard when we start the welcoming party tomorrow night-yoi.”

Smiling once more at the dark haired man, Marco put a hand on his shoulder before making his way out of the communications room, most likely returning to his duties.

Looking at the den-den mushi for a moment, Ace dialled the number of the den-den on the Piece of Spadille, waiting patiently for someone to pick up.

Deuce’s voice sounded from the other side, “Spade Pirates.”

Ace chuckled, “Hi Deuce.”

Deuce grumbled, “you can’t just day ‘hi, Deuce’ after everything we just went through, captain. We only knew you were going to ask Whitebeard about That, for all that we knew that was the last time we spoke to you.”

Ace worried his lip between his teeth, “I didn’t see it like that, I just… I already made my decision, and I wanted to know how look on That. I never thought something would happen, it was either he accepts it and we become part of the Whitebeard Pirates, or he doesn’t, which meant I’d board the Piece of Spadille again and he go on, on out journey.”

Deuce sighed, “well, we didn’t think like that, we actually thought someone would call to tell us that our captain was dead and thrown overboard.”

Ace winced, “I’m sorry.”

Deuce hummed, “we are however very happy to hear your voice captain and know you’re alright.”

He could hear the others on the background, shouting their agreement to what Deuce had said.

“So, now what?”

Ace grinned, “now you and the crew join the Whitebeard Pirates together with me, we put our ship in the storage deck under the hull tomorrow morning, and I’ve already heard the crew is preparing a party for tomorrow evening.”

Silence met him from the other side of the line, making Ace worry that he had taken a decision not everyone of the Spades were behind.

“Unless of course, you don’t want to join together with me.”

A chorus of voices suddenly burst out of the den-den, letting him know that they’d love to join the Whitebeard Pirates, and that they would follow him anywhere. They were just surprised that the offer would come for them as well, as whitebeard had been very interested in Ace only, and not in their crew.

Ace shrugged, knowing the Den-den would transfer the movement, “I asked the first mate if it extended to you too, and he said yes, so… He even told me to call you and explain that we’ll be storing our ship with others already in the hull.”

He could hear Deuce sighing from across the line, “that’s fine then, we just weren’t sure we could come aboard too, and stay with you. We feared… feared that you would leave us, for them.”

Ace gaped at the den-den, “Deuce, seriously, you think that after everything I went through to get each and every one of you on my crew, I would just leave you all behind when I got an invite to a Yonko crew?”

Some murmurs came over the line, some of them sounding a lot like ‘wouldn’t be the first time’.

Which made Ace so very sad, to know that his crew, before they became part of the Spades had lived lives where being abandoned or left behind was a normal occurrence, it hurt that because of that they expected him to do the same thing, now that he got accepted into the Whitebeard Pirates crew.

Sighing, Ace said, “I would never, ever, willingly leave you behind, unless it was to save your lives, like I did after the fight with Jinbei. I don’t want to leave you all behind, and as long as I am able, I won’t do so either.

We went through way too much to just stop our adventure here. I picked you all for my crew, and I did a lot of things to make sure you were able to go with me, on said crew, so I don’t understand how any of you could think that I would leave that all behind.”

A wet chuckle came from Deuce, “I think we were just scared of what this could mean for us, Ace, you took us out of situations we didn’t like or down right hated and gave us something to cherish and enjoy. The thought of losing that was very frightening to a lot of us, and something we didn’t want to think about – but felt we must, seeing as it might become a reality, if the Whitebeard Pirates didn’t want us on board.”

Ace scoffed, “but they do want you on board, starting tomorrow, for the sole reason that a lot of the crew is already asleep. It might take some time to get used to this change in crew and ship, but we can still make it work, right?”

A chorus of ‘yes, captain’, came from the den-den, making him smile.

“Alright, I’ll see you all tomorrow!”

The next morning was just a bit tense, with Ace and Marco, as well as Curiel and a few members of the 10th division, pulling in the Piece of Spadille into the storage dock.

One the Spade’s ship was secured, all of them got off, slightly on edge at the unknown pirates with them. Some, like Marco and Curiel, they did recognize, but they didn’t know anyone but Ace, so it made things a bit awkward and tense.

Marco cleared his throat, “how about I show you all where you’ll be staying, and afterwards Ace can show you around the ship-yoi?”

A few tense nods made the blond turn and lead them towards two room at the back of the sleeping area.

“These used to belong to the second division, but without a commander, a lot of the people in there have been relocated to another division, so these are empty now. You are all free to use them until such a point you might chose to join another one.”

This got him some glares from the Spades, as they all took a step closer to Ace, making the blond commander put up his hands, “didn’t mean to imply that you would-yoi.”

He huffed with a smile and turned around, “be sure to show them around, Ace-yoi. The first few weeks after new members are always a bit hectic, but then again, we are pirates-yoi.”

With a wave, he stepped out of the room, leaving the former-Spade pirates to their own devices.

Ace cleared his throat, “okay, now how are we going to split these rooms?”

Before anyone said anything, a group hug was issued by Banshee and Cornelia, the two women on his crew, who hugged him close, prompting the others to do the same.

After they all were comforted that their captain was alright, although Kimel stated that he had lost weight, and he would fix that as soon as he could speak to the cooks on the ship.

This had Ace sweat dropping and telling them he hadn’t shared just how much he did eat on a normal day, making his crew glare at him for not taking care of himself.

After that part of the reunion was over, they just agreed to go and get the matrasses from the other room and stay together in the one room at the end of the hall, staying together to make them all, except for Ace, feel more comfortable now that they were on a new ship, with new people.

Having fixed that, Ace took them on a tour on the ship, making sure he introduced them all to the commanders, and explain what they did as a division – to make sure every one of the Spades knew who to look for in case of trouble, or when they needed something specific.

He kept the kitchen for last, as it was approaching lunch time, so they could enter the mess hall as soon as they dropped by the kitchen.


	3. "The onsen episode"

They had arrived at an island most famous for their onsen spread across the island, heated by the underground volcanic network than ran through the island.

Ace, nor any of the Spade Pirates, had ever visited this particular island before, with it being quite a bit more into Whitebeard territory, instead of the edges they had kept to before. However, all of them were looking forward to a relaxing dip in the onsen.

Most of the commanders had told Ace about just how wonderful the island was, with its special scented onsen, some large ones (which were actually made just to fit people like Whitebeard or others with an ancestry with giants), some which offered a massage to its guest and so on.

From the looks of the other members of the Whitebeard Pirates, this was a day everyone looked forward to, and something that they made sure was repeated 2 times a year. As to make sure those few who had to stay on the ship to guard her, could enjoy their day at the onsen just as well, the next time they stopped.

Marco and Jozu also shared that some of the water wasn’t taken from the sea, so had a much milder effect on devil fruit users, another reason they came here for their onsen trips, as it didn’t shut off their devil fruit entirely.

The excitement was palpable on the ship the moment the island was seen on the horizon, making more than one crew member dream about spending way too long in the onsen, and just relax for the remainder of the day.

Marco had even put a hold on all the chores that needed to be done that day, as almost everyone wouldn’t be on the ship, and the few that where are more than happy to not eat a warm meal for once, but just eat an assortment of buns and bread.

Or the few who wanted a warm meal, would ask their friends or division members who were going to island, to bring them something from one of the stalls close to the onsen. With everyone on the island also eating at those stalls, Thatch and the Forth division didn’t need to cook for a change, making this a sort of holiday for most of the crew.

So Ace, and all the others who hadn’t been in this island yet, were looking forward to their visit even more, especially with how much others had told them about.

Once on the island, it seemed like the inhabitants had planned for this, Marco told him they did. They would let them know when they’re a week off from docking at the onsen island, which made sure that the inhabitants of the island knew what to expect and for the owners of the onsen to close it off for the general public, reserving it for the Whitebeard Pirates, for the duration of that day.

Ace had to admit he was stunned by the way they were received here, and how quickly all of them dispersed towards the different onsen on the island. Leaving him, as the recent second division commander, with the other commanders and Oyaji, to go and enjoy the onsen which could handle Oyaji’s build.

Looking around, he was also tempted by the many food stalls lining the roads, their scents making his mouth water, and his stomach grumble.

Thatch turned on their youngest commander with a smile on his face, “how is it you’re still hungry, you bottomless hole, we ate breakfast like an hour ago.”

Ace looked at the cook sheepishly, “I’m always hungry, downside of my metabolism, I could keep on eating if I wanted to, but I don’t seeing as I do have other things that need to be done.”

Further down he could hear Izo moaning about the fact that he still looked like some kind of trained athlete, instead of someone who could just keep eating.

Ace shrugged, “I can’t help it, my little brother, Luffy is just the same, if not more of a black hole. I hope when he sets out, he finds himself a good cook.”

This had all of them asking about Luffy, which Ace was happy for, always in the mood for telling stories about his kid brother.

“Gurarara, son, I always love hearing stories about that kid brother of yours; be sure to ask him to join next time you see him, will you.”

Ace nodded as Oyaji asked him this, “I’ll try, but I’m sure he won’t say yes. He wants to be Pirate King, and you can’t become Pirate King under someone else’s banner.”

Oyaji just hummed, making his way towards a grand building at the end of the road, the owned, an older gentleman, was waiting for them, a smile on his face.

“ah, Whitebeard-san, always a pleasure to have you in our onsen.”

Oyaji smiled at the man, “It is always a pleasure to be here, Walter-san, I assume this will be like all the previous times?”

Walter nodded, “as always, enjoy your stay here, commanders, Whitebeard-san.”

With that the man left, leaving them all to enter the building, and get undressed. Towels to cover up were provided at the door to the changing rooms, together with a sponge to use for cleaning themselves off before they entered the onsen.

Ace stayed behind a bit, before Marco approached him, the dark haired commander, smiling shyly at the blond, “I… I never went to an onsen before, is there anything special I need to do?”

Marco’s lazy gaze sharpened a bit, before a smile took over his face, “make sure you’re covered, we’re family here, but if you ever enter an onsen in an other island, be sure you wrap the provided towel around your waist.

Other than that, be sure to clean up before getting into the onsen, there should always be an area nearby where you can take a seat to scrub clean. It’s why they gave us those sponges to begin with. You just take some of the water in the basin and scrub clean.

The stools are there so you can wash your legs and such as well, without having to stand on one leg to do so.”

Ace hummed, “so cover up, and scrub clean before getting in?”

Marco nodded, “those are the more important things to watch out for. For us devil fruit users, we get a little weaker, but these onsen have been adapted, so we won’t get so weak, but others won’t have that, so take that into account when you ever visit an onsen on another island.”

Ace nodded, again, making sure to remember that.

While they had been talking, most of the others had already scrubbed clean, and were sliding into the onsen one at a time, Oyaji was already resting on what was obviously his seat (there was the flag carved into it an all).

Marco took his hand and lead him towards the washing basin, and the stools, showing him what he meant with scrubbing clean. Ace just followed the blond’s example, almost feeling the dirt wash away as he did so.

Marco smiled, before taking a bucked and emptying it over his head, doing the same with Ace before he led their newest commander into the onsen.

Once in, they found the carved out stools at the sides, sitting onto one and just relaxing in the heat of the onsen. Some of the other commanders were softly conversing, with Oyaji humming now in again, either in agreement or because he was enjoying the heat of the onsen as they were doing.

Ace just watched the others as they were relaxing, talking and enjoying themselves. All of them looked more relaxed than he ever had known them to look, and that’s without the obvious chances it all of them.

Marco was seated next to him, his eyes closed and a soft smile on his lips. His hair was flat against his head from the water he had thrown over it, even though it seemed to be curling a bit with all of the moisture in the air.

Jozu’s hair was similarly flattened to his head, the Third division commander talking to Thatch and Izo.

Thatch was for once without his impressive pompadour, his long hair falling down his back to just under his shoulders. It took Ace a while to recognize him, so used to seeing the cook with his hair up in a pompadour.

Izo was also a very different person, for one he wasn’t wearing any makeup at the moment (which would have been mood with the amount of water they were all surrounded by), as well as his long black hair was falling down his back.

Vista was relaxing, in a similar pose to Marco, eyes closed, his hair also getting curlier because of the moisture, which also made his impressive moustache curl, to the glee of those around him.

Blamenco, Curiel, Atmos and Jiru were still very recognizable, even if none of them were donned in their signature hats. The four of them were talking quietly in a spot near Oyaji.

Fossa and Blenheim were similarly conversing, but on the other side of Oyaji, Fossa’s hair for once not all spiky, but flat against his head. While Blenheim’s hair was loose out of its braid, he normally kept it in, spread out on the water behind him.

Kingdew and Rakuyo were enjoying the warm water, both of them had their eyes closed, even if the water was making their normally blond hair a few shades darker than Ace was used to seeing it. It was nice to see his brothers all so relaxed.

Namur and Haruta were close by, looking at him as he was looking at their siblings. Both of them the youngest before him, they had banded together, as some of the other commanders were quite a few years older than they were.

It was however odd to see Haruta’s towel around the waist, instead of the hips, until he remembered that, contrary to popular belief, there was a female commander on board. He guessed it made sense she would wear her towel higher than they did, even if he remembered reading somewhere that male and female baths were usually separate, it made sense Haruta would just join them all in the onsen here, instead of sitting on her own in the female part.

Finally closing his eyes, Ace also relaxed, hoping he wouldn’t fall asleep because of the hot and sweet smelling water.


	4. Narcolepsy

The first time Ace fell asleep in the middle of saying something, a lot of the crew members started to panic, and had called for Marco to come as soon as possible.

The Blond commander hadn’t found anything wrong with one of their newest members and had hushed all of them with saying Ace was probably catching up on sleep he hadn’t gotten the first three months he had been onboard.

He had however talked about it with Ace himself, where the freckled man had admitted to being diagnosed with narcolepsy, from a child up, but that he hadn’t had his medication since a few weeks, as he didn’t want to ask them. This had been when he’d still been convinced, he’d been able to take Whitebeard’s head, so he wouldn’t need it.

He had told Marco that Deuce should carry some on him, or would have made the stop for getting more, as his crew was very aware of how dangerous Ace’s attacks could be, and just what could happed if he fell asleep and fell overboard.

Marco had nodded and had spoken to Deuce the moment the other doctor had come aboard, remembering the name of the medication Ace took to counter his narcolepsy.

The following months were some without any attacks, as Ace’s meds were working, which meant no more attacks for him.

In all honestly people had forgotten that Ace even had such an attack, so the moment it started happening again, it went from scary, to funny in a matter of 3 times.

Within the week, and at least 3 instances where someone found Ace asleep later, almost everyone on the crew knew and just laughed every time it happened. After all it was somewhat funny to see the new commander faceplanting his food a couple of times a week.

It just so happened that both Marco and Deuce were away on a mission, so neither could correct the rest of the crew about what was happening, and just how dangerous it could be on the long term. Marco as well, couldn’t let them all know that they had to keep an eye on their second division commander less the man goes overboard, and as a devil fruit user this might be a death sentence.

But as neither doctors weren’t on board, and the nurses weren’t up to date with all the medical records, this was something that wasn’t taken as serious as it should be. As well as Ace feeling bad that his medication wasn’t working anymore.

He really hoped Deuce and Marco would be back soon with a refill of his medication, so he could have a go at his normal life again, instead of falling asleep at random and fearing that he might not wake up.

He also knew he needed to tell someone because this could really go wrong, it was a relief it had yet to go wrong.

Marco and Deuce came back onto the Moby Dick after being away for almost 3 weeks, going from island to island in the hope of finding the medication Ace took for his narcolepsy, seeing as they are out everywhere, they stopped.

Both doctors hoped that the dark-haired man’s medication had lasted him this long, seeing as it could pose quite the problem if his medications ran out, or stopped working.

Once back onto the ship, they found the rest of the crew in a party mode, booze had been taken out and a party was in full process.

Neither of them had found Ace among the party goers yet, even if a lot of people did greet them and welcomed them back.

Finally encountering Thatch, they asked where Ace was, to which the cook replied he didn’t know, he hadn’t seen the other man since breakfast that morning. Seeing as it was now almost dinner, this was a bit of a problem, as Ace never missed a meal.

Asking the cook some more about what had happened, and if something strange had been happening to Ace while they were gone. The cook smiled and started telling about this strange thing Ace had been doing a few days after they left.

The more the two doctors heard, the more they feared that something might have happened to incapacitate the second division commander, together with the fact that he hadn’t been seen since that morning, made them fear for the worst.

Without saying goodbye to Thatch, or anyone else that gathered up to them, they started running towards the second division corridor, looking into his bedroom, where he wasn’t, to the other sleeping halls for the division, again where Ace couldn’t be found.

They checked every bedroom and sleeping hall, every room they found, in such a haste that everyone on the ship knew that something wasn’t right. After asking for what was happening, both doctors were adamant they needed to find Ace, the faster the better.

Luckily, they found Ace sleeping tucked against Stephan of Oyaji’s bed, their father was quite taken with the picture they made. Until Stephan started to bark at them the moment he woke up.

Marco approached and saw blood on Ace’s head, meaning he must have hurt himself on something sea stone while he had an attack, and no one had noticed except for Stephan.

He petted the dog on his head, while looking their youngest commander over, he seemed to fine except for the headwound, but with how dangerous one of those could be, he had one of the other commanders carry Ace while he supported the other’s neck – just to make sure there wasn’t anything else that had been hurt by his fall.

Once in the infirmary, he asked everyone but the commanders to leave, with the exception of Deuce, who was looking at, and taking care of, the headwound Ace had.

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose, before looking at the other commanders, “can someone tell me why nobody though it odd that Ace kept on falling asleep. Or that none of you thought it could be a serious medical condition?”

This had all of them quiet, as they looked at the dark-haired man on the hospital bed, he seemed to be fine, if one ignored the headwound which had been taken care of and covered with a bandage.

Marco sighed, “Ace has what is called narcolepsy, which means he can fall asleep at any given moment, and at any place, if he didn’t have his medication. Medication Deuce and I were going around for, seeing as every island we went through had just gone through their stock.

If, which luckily didn’t happen, he fell asleep and fell overboard, he wouldn’t even be here right now.”

Thatch and Haruta, the other commanders Ace were closest too, looked from Marco to Ace, and back.

“But why didn’t he ever tell us?”

Deuce answered, “because he has this ridiculous idea, that if people knew they’d think him weak. He doesn’t like talking about it, and the only reason I knew was because we spend several days alone on an island in the beginning of our journey, when his medication ran out and he had to tell me.”

Looking at Marco, the blond ran a hand through his hair, before answering, “he was without his medication the last few weeks before he joined. He had an episode on the first day after he officially joined, and I found out then after examining him and asking him if he knew what was going on.”

Namur was the one who spoke what they had all been thinking, “so Ace could have died these few weeks?”

Marco nodded, “he was very lucky he only fell asleep during dinner time or in the hallways, if he ever did close to the edge of the ship, who knows what could have happened. And I know we have several people on stand-by for the even that one of us devil fruit users goes overboard, but the chance is that no one sees him go, or it isn’t discovered until much later that day.

Narcolepsy is hard enough on people who can swim, and who as far as research go wake up as soon as they touch water. But Ace won’t be helped with that, as he’ll sink.”

This had a lot of the other commanders talking about themselves.

Marco sighed again, “just, keep this in mind for the next time alright, I wouldn’t want, and I’m sure neither of you want it either, but I don’t want to have to find out we lost our little firecracker.”

This had all of them nodding, still looking worried as their gaze went over to Ace, who was still unconscious.

Marco shook his head, “I’m sure he’ll be fine, headwounds bleed a lot, even small ones, so don’t worry about him.”

“Tell Ace we wish him well when he wakes up, will you Marco!”

Marco just nodded, waving all of his siblings out of the med bay, before taking a seat next to Ace, looking at Deuce so the other man could tell him what he had found.

“It’s as you said, commander, he should wake up any moment, it was a very small wound, I’m not even sure if it was caused by a piece of sea stone, or if he was just already asleep when he fell and he just didn’t turn into fire on impact.

I couldn’t find anything else wrong, nor could I find signs that anything else but that little wound, that indicated that this is worse than a scratch.”

Marco nodded, “I need to get some paperwork done, I guess you’ll stay here with him and call out when he wakes?”

Deuce nodded, already taking a seat next to the bed, keeping his former captain company, even if he wasn’t awake to appreciate it.

When Ace did wake up, a little over half an hour later, he had two worried doctors chewing him out for being not careful enough, and not telling anyone that he had a medical condition that needed monitoring.

When asked what had happened, he told them he had fallen asleep in one of the storage rooms and hit his head on something hard, he’d waken up to find Stephan laying next to him, keeping him company. After which the big, white dog had led him towards Whitebeard’s bed where he has fallen asleep again, next to the dog.

This led both Deuce and Marco to sigh, happy that it was just as they thought had happened and going form the way Ace could talk and look at them, he didn’t have a concussion. They also told him the other commanders were up to date on his condition and would keep an eye out for the event of any of this happening again.


	5. The first party

The first party the Spades had with the Whitebeard Pirates, was they welcoming party. As soon as Ace had shown everyone around, and introduced all the commanders, as well as some other crewmembers who he had gotten close to on the 3 months he had been on the ship.

Their welcoming party started after dinner. Dinner which had been a feast on itself, the cooks had started with preparing the moment they had heard that Ace, and with him his crew, had agreed to become part of the Whitebeard Pirates. In true style, they had taken out the best meat they had laying around, started preparing side dished and main dishes to accompany the meat, and started planning on what they would serve as dessert.

The meal itself was filled with multiple people coming towards the table the Spades had taken in, to introduce themselves, ask some questions or to tell Ace they were very impressed by the way he went about trying to kill Oyaji.

This of course made their newest member turn red and try to hide his face, he knew deed down that he had made his choice on joining some time ago, but he needed people who weren’t afraid of getting hurt to get close to him.

Luffy was one such example, and Sabo had been one, on how to approach Portgas D. Ace 101, as well as deal with the fact that the more the man liked you, the more likely it was that he would try to kill you. He was odd like that.

Oyaji it seemed had suspected something like that, but the way the man must have no doubt known his father, and met his mother, he would know what to expect from him.

It felt as a relief to be able to be a part of one of the largest crews to sail the seas, backed up by so many brothers and sisters on the Moby Dick, as well as a whole lot of other allied crews should it ever come to that.

Anyway, back to the diner, they always served buffet style meals on the Moby Dick, knowing that it was impossible to put everything on the tables with some people’s dietary regimen, allergies, or their preferred foods.

So, to keep that all in mind, Thatch had come up with a buffet style meal plan, where several dishes were served, and prepared to be put on in a moment’s notice as soon as the container for the previous one was empty.

This gave everyone a choice in what they would like to eat and take however much they wanted too.

The cooks ate together with their family, making it so that there were always 5 cooks in the kitchen preparing the next batch and putting the next container on the table to serve the next crewmember. As soon as everything was put out, and most of the others had second helpings, everyone would sit together in the mess hall.

That’s when the magic happened, on normal nights everyone would disperse, to either do some chores, or deal with paperwork. Or, for those without those commitments, to relax in their cabin or go and talk on deck with others enjoying the view of the ocean, as well as the ocean breeze.

Tonight, however, was special. They had new members to welcome, and in true Whitebeard style they planned to do that with a party.

As everyone was done eating, people started to gather on the deck, some of the crew members who played an instrument went and got that out, starting to play a tune like they had done so many times before.

The fourth division would soon be outside with barrels of sake, glasses of wine and barrels of beer, as to make sure each and everyone on the crew would have their choice in drinks.

It Thatch was in a good enough mode, he might even start mixing, giving those that prefer it a cocktail he had mixed while they watched. Izo, Haruto and the nurses, especially, were a fan of that.

Standing close to the door leading to the inside of the ship, Ace couldn’t help but look around as his new-found family partied to celebrate the joining of his own crew with theirs. He had to give it to them, that they had all been patient, after all, he had been on the ship for 3 months at this point, and the only parties he had seen where those for those who had their birthday in that month.

So, to now see a party for a whole other reason, as well as the differences between the two was odd to see, but he enjoyed it anyway.

Those on night watch had already taken to the higher ground, to be able to resist the booze that was being distributed. Some others, like Marco who wouldn’t get drunk, or Curiel who just didn’t like to drink, had taken to being the overseer of tonight.

If they ever saw someone getting ill, or almost falling asleep, they would help that person below deck, to start sleeping off his hangover. After all, this was a party, and getting ill or falling asleep, or any kind of reason they found to get people to go to bed, was listened too. Most of those getting send of were drunk enough to be nursing a killer hangover the next morning.

The fact that anyone looked out for them, and made them stop before going to far, was a great way of making sure everyone could enjoy the party and wouldn’t be averse to partying again another time.

From his spot by the door, Ace was still nursing his first pint, knowing that with the medication he took, he shouldn’t be drinking too much alcohol, even if his devil fruit burned it the moment it entered his system. He knew he couldn’t get drunk, had tried to get wasted on more than one occasion, but never succeeded.

Standing here, part of him wanted to drink some more. But the other part was more than happy to see everyone enjoying themselves because he, and the Spades, had joined.

Thatch had come by once, to try and refill his tankard, but he had declined, citing medication he was taken as the reason he couldn’t drink all that much. The chef had shrugged, smiled and made his way back to an improvised bar, where he was available to refill other’s tankards, or to mix a drink for those who asked.

Looking up when he felt movement to his right, Ace’s eye was drawn to Marco.

“You’re standing here all alone.”

Ace nodded, “I don’t do all to well with crowds, and add the possibility for a narcoleptic attack, I remembered to stay clear of crowds for the time being.”

Marco hummed, “that’s awfully considerate of you.”

Ace pouted, “I used to be a captain, you know. I need to be considerate of my crewmates if I wanted to actually get anywhere.”

Marco nodded, “that is true, but still, it… it surprised me, with you being quite young. Now that you aren’t trying to hurt Oyaji, you come off as a polite and considerate young man, wasn’t suspecting that.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel better, it isn’t working”, Ace mumbled.

Marco gave a grin, “my apologies, I found that watching people on their first Whitebeard Party reveals a lot about them, one of the reasons I like doing it. Well that, and because I’m a self-appointed overseer, seeing as I can’t get drunk.”

Ace hummed, “I can’t get drunk either, fire and all that, but I still shouldn’t be drinking a lot with my meds.”

Marco nodded, “again, you being considerate, most pirates wouldn’t care if they needed to watch what they drink, together with the medication they are taking, trust me I know who to watch out for each and every time. It’s nice to know that some of the crew do know how to take care of themselves”

Ace shrugged, “I am an older brother too, you know, had to look out for my kid brother for so long, if became second nature to also spare some attention to making sure I did the things I needed to get done to remain healthy.”

Marco hummed again, “that doesn’t always mean anything, lots of people here are an older sibling, yet not all of them think and act the way you do.”

He pointed to Izo, “for example, Izo also has a younger sibling, yet any chance he gets he’ll get drunk. It’s hell when he’s on medication that can’t get mixed with alcohol.

Vista had younger siblings as well, but he’ll be the first to get carted off to bed, from the commanders, as he’ll engorge in booze and needs to stop before the party it at its peak.”

Smiling at their newest crewmember, Marco grinned, “you’ll notice a lot of our family just take any excuse to drink and will do so, even if strictly speaking they aren’t allowed to.”

Setting off in the crown again, Ace looked after the blond, before looking around, he had always liked watching others, and watching people getting slowly wasted made it even more fun. Lots of people let go of inhibition and insecurities when drunk, which in a way made you get to know the real person behind the mask. As everyone wore one, to protect themselves, it was something Ace had learned a long time ago, but he was glad to be able to let go of part of his mask here in the Moby Dick.

Letting his eyes roam the deck, he could see Izo with a blush on his cheeks drinking another one of the cocktails Thatch had put down in front of him.

Haruto meanwhile was seated next to the crossdresser, a smile on her face as she kept stirring the glass, she’s been given 10 minutes ago. Vista, as predicted was no where to be found, most likely already asleep in his cabin.

Marco as he expected was mingling in the crowd, pushing certain people towards their rooms when he noticed them reaching their limit. He also stopped a lot, just to talk with others, or to check in with Oyaji, who despite all the medical equipment he was connected too, was enjoying his sake with great gusto.

Several others, among them Blamenco and Jiro, where talking over one thing or another, their drink in hand, but not actually taking a sip.

Those that he couldn’t see, from the commanders, were most likely mingling in the crowd, in guard duty, or had already turned in for the night.

He could see Deuce and several other Spades talking to their new crewmembers, getting to know them better now that they would all stay together on the ship. It warmed him up inside, more than his devil fruit did, to see his old family and new one seamlessly blending together.

As he felt his narcolepsy kicking in, he made sure to take a seat on the ground before his eyes closed, a soft smile on his face. Waking up the next morning told him someone had carried him off to bed last night, as he didn’t wake up on the floor of the deck.

Smiling, he turned around, happy to have enjoyed the Spades’ first party on board the Moby Dick.


	6. Meeting the revolutionaries

When Ace had made it to commander, Marco had taken him apart to tell him that there might be such a time that he got into contact with the Revolutionary army, as they did runs for them now and again.

It wasn’t an official alliance, as being associated with the Revolutionaries wasn’t something even Whitebeard could afford, not publicly. But they had an agreement that if they were in trouble, or needed to ride, and the Moby Dick was close, they’d do their utmost best in picking up the revolutionaries in question and help them out.

More than once had a revolutionary hid on the Moby, after all, with a crew this big, no marine knew exactly who was on board the ship, but between new members, some older ones retiring, and other taking leave to visit family, there wasn’t a moment in time that everyone was on the ship – as such a new temporary face wouldn’t be noticed.

After being asked if he had a problem with that, Ace had burst out laughing, and told Marco just what the name was of his little brother, as well as the man he called gramps.

The first commander of the Whitebeard Pirates had blinked once, twice, before looking at Ace and asking, “you call Garp the fist your grandfather-yoi?”

Ace had nodded, “he took me in after mom died, raised me together with my little brother, or rather had us raised by some friends on his home island. Hoping to turn us into respectable marines.”

Marco had snorted, “that had turned out well-yoi.”

Ace had just grinned, “he should have known we’d never become marines, Luffy has been dreaming of the sea ever since he met Shanks, and I’ve always been saying I wanted to be free. You can’t be free if you’re a marine.”

Marco hummed, “wait, is your little brother the reason Shanks is down an arm and his hat-yoi?”

Ace nodded, “he saves Luffy when he was thrown into the sea by a low life bandit. The local seaking wanted to eat Lu, but Shanks saved him, costing him an arm. From the story Luffy told, Shanks gave him the hat with the promise to give it back to him, after he had become a great pirate.”

Marco had just hummed and walked away, no doubt keeping that to himself until the next time Shanks visited the Moby Dick and made a nuisance of himself.

Months had passed without them getting a call from the revolutionaries, not that Ace minded, but he did look forward to meeting the people Dragon worked with. After all, after living with Luffy, and getting occasional visits from Garp, the only Monkey D. he hadn’t met was Dragon.

He hadn’t even finished that thought, when Marco came into the navigation room, a den-den in hand, as he talked to it. A rough voice answering him as he asked details about coordinates and locations.

As the den-den disconnected, Marco turned to Ace and pointed to an island not that far away from them, it wasn’t on the route Ace had been following, but it wouldn’t put them way off course either.

“Do you think we can make a stop there?”

Ace nodded, “sure, seems simple enough. Was that…?”

Marco tilted his head, “Dragon, yeah -yoi. His chief of staff and third in command are on that island, having liberated it from a dictator, but their ship was sunk in the battle that killed the dictator. So, Dragon called, to ask if we can take them with us until the next big city-yoi.”

Ace hummed, “seems easy enough.”

Looking at the map, before looking outside and calculating how fast they were going, Ace told Marco they’d be there just after noon.

Marco nodded and called the den-den again, giving the message to Dragon, to get to the two revolutionaries on the island.

At half past noon, the Moby Dick docked at the island, much to the awe of the people of said island. Marco and Ace were the only ones going on land, wanting to keep the amount of being disembarking to a minimum, if only for the reason of being able to leave quickly if a marine vessel was spotted.

This wasn’t their territory, not was it Kaido’s or Linlin’s, but one could never be too careful on these seas. Not when they were smuggling revolutionaries with them.

Walking to the cave Dragon had told them about, Marco made a show of making noise as he approached. A red headed girl came out, arms at the ready to defend herself, only to relax when she recognized the blond.

“Hi, Marco.”

“Koala-yoi, I heard you had a bit of an issue.”

Another voice came from inside the cave, “you can say that commander. Thanks again for the lift.”

As Marco waved a hand and turned around to go back to the ship, Ace stood, as frozen, looking at the other man that came out of the cave. He was blond, about his hight, with curly hair and blue eyes. He also wore quite fancy clothes, and a top hat with goggles on them.

Blinking once, he asked, “Sabo?”

The blond looked at him, eyes widening as they took him in, “Ace…”

Before he could say anything else, or before Ace could anything, he let out a yelp of pain, calling back Koala and Marco. The later who turned to Ace.

“What did you do?”

Ace shook his head, “I didn’t do anything… it’s just…”

Koala approached, a little on edge as Marco went to check on Sabo, “it’s just…?”

Ace held up his hands, keeping one eye on Sabo, “it’s just that he looks just like my other brother, the one that died almost 9 years ago, when a Celestial Dragon blew up his ship.”

Koala’s eyes widened as she looked between Ace and Sabo, no doubt seeing the resemblance, even if they weren’t blood related. If Luffy were here it would be even more obvious, and even more odd, as none of them shared blood, only sake – and a bond of brotherhood.

“You… you thought he died?”

Ace nodded, “I… The place where we lived, or lived close by was set aflame, Luffy and I were trapped there by low life pirates making easy coins for a noble from Goa, said noble wanted us to be kept away, at all costs, from his precious first born. Even if his son didn’t want anything to do with him, or the noble society in Goa.

He went with, thinking he was sparing out lives. But we were still caught and almost burned to death, if not for out caretaker who got us out. While Luffy and I were out, one of the people we lived with had gone to look for Sabo, but saw him setting out, crossing a Celestial Dragon ship, which shit him down.”

Ace looked away, “there was never any body and we never heard Outlook again, so we thought him death.”

Koala gasped, Marco as well was looking at him in shock, before turning to the blond on the ground.

“I think he’s regaining his memories, he’s running a slight fever, but nothing serious; but other then that I can’t find anything wrong with Sabo-yoi.”

Nodding, they decided to carry the younger blond to the ship on Ace’s back, after Marco helped him lift the other blond on him.

That had been two days ago, and after the initial cheers and laughter from the crew, they had subdued soon enough when they noticed the man on Ace’s back unconscious. Marco had his transported into the infirmary and kept a watchful eye over him.

Only leaving when Koala or Ace, or both of them, were seated next to the bed, keeping watch over the patient.

Finally, late on that second day, Sabo stirred, groaning as he opened his eyes and looked at Koala.

“Koala, I think I had a crazy dream. I was seeing my brother and…”

Bolting upright, Sabo groaned, “I remember, oh god, I remember. I forgot about them, about Ace, and Luffy and…”

Tears started making their way over the other’s cheek, which made Koala take a seat on the bed and put her arms around her partner.

“Sabo, we’re on the Moby Dick, the first and second division commanders came and got us off of Tortuga. Do you remember that?”

Sabo nodded, “yeah, all up until I walked out of the cave.”

A familiar voice sounded, “that’s because you fainted at seeing me, great way of greeting one’s brother, Sabo.”

Turning slowly, Sabo could only gasp as Ace stood by the door, his chest bare, and muscled, which was a given, by the strength the oldest had, had, even as a child. His hair was still chin length and slightly wavy, looking a bit like his, only black in colour.

“Ace…”

Ace scowled that familiar scowl, “don’t you Ace me! We thought you died, Luffy cried for days, I cried! Dandan had to tie me to a tree to get to me to calm down, as I wanted to march right into Goa to deck the man who had shot you.”

Not answering, Sabo got up and threw his arms around Ace, clinging tight to the other man.

“I am so sorry, I… Dragon fished me out of the ocean, but I had amnesia, I couldn’t remember anything, except that I wanted and needed to get off of that island.”

Ace sighed, before hugging him back, “you get to be the one to tell Luffy though, and gramps.”

This seemed to light up something in Sabo, as he gasped, “Monkey D. Dragon, are you telling me I was rescued by gramps’ son, and Luffy’s dad!?”

This caught Koala’s attention too, “what, Dragon-san, has a son?!”

Both Sabo and Ace nodded, before turning back to the other. Ace leading Sabo back to his bed, knowing Marco could be such a mother hen about his patients. Once seated, they started to catch up on the years they missed out of each other’s lives. Not even noticing when Koala left to give them some time alone.


	7. Ace's eating habbits

Ace, and the Spades had been part of the Whitebeard Pirates for a little over a month now, and this morning Deuce had taken him aside, asking why he wasn’t eating enough.

Ace had looked away, knowing that his own crew was used to the way he ate, as he always had eaten, enough to feet about 20 grown men. But the Whitebeard Pirates hadn’t known that, had thought him alright, even when he was essentially starving himself the first three months he had been on board.

After all, back then, he didn’t trust any of the people he now called his siblings and didn’t dare to take anything they offered to him. Instead choosing to live on fish he caught at night, or the occasional raid of the pantry.

When he had told Deuce this, his former first mate had scowled at him.

“You want to tell me, that after already starving yourself for 3 months, you’re still doing it because you want to spare their feelings?”

Ace had nodded mutely, making Deuce throw up his arms and stomp off.

He knew, logically that he could eat as much as he liked, as there were always a few cooks in the kitchen, to make sure they had enough for everyone on board. Especially since this changed from week to week, with crew members joining, or leaving, allies who visited, or family of some crewmembers who came on board for a couple of days.

But still, he didn’t want to be stared at, not when he already took more than the average man, and had people staring at him. If he took even more, he was scared that they would laugh at him, or that Thatch would yell at him for taking to much, thinking he was going to throw it away later.

As a sea cook, he didn’t like wasting food, which he totally got, but he also knows that no one on board ate like he does, not even Oyaji, and he was almost triple the size as Ace was.

He just sucked it up and went to the mess hall, avoiding eye contact with Deuce, to not have his former first mate make a scene about him eating not enough, he didn’t want to let the Whitebeards know he ate so much food in one sitting, only for them to connect the dots and see that he was starving himself at the beginning of his journey on board the Moby Dick.

He thought he had gotten away with it too, after he didn’t see Deuce for almost two weeks. Only for his former first mate to come and seek him out when he had watch duty.

“I know what you look like when you’re not eating well, Ace, and I know you have been losing weight. It won’t be long before Marco-Taicho or Thatch-Taicho notice too, and then what will you do!?”

Ace had shrugged, he had been fine so far, so he would be fine after too.

Deuce sighed, “you really need to start eating normal again, Ace, or you’ll get health problems, or you might even have trouble with your medication or even new symptoms of your narcolepsy.”

When he didn’t answer, Deuce sighed, “just think about it, and please tell someone. I would hate for you to get sick, just because you weren’t taking care of yourself for something as stupid as the quantity of food you eat.”

Ace hadn’t known what to say to that, he hadn’t wanted to come clean on this, but he knew Deuce was right, just like he always was. He knew he was losing weight, and he was starting to have trouble sleeping – he just didn’t want to admit that.

He hated asking for help, even more so, when he knew the other person would find out something that could hurt them too. He knew that if he told Thatch, the cook would take it personal that there had been someone on the ship who had been starving themselves.

He also knew Thatch would never tell anyone not to take as much food as they wanted, as the standing rule on board was, the first person to have to throw something away in on kitchen duty the next week.

But he still couldn’t get his mind to agree on actually saying this to anyone or talking about it to someone who could comfort him on this matter. Because Deuce was also right that the ailments he had would only worsen, and then he’d have to come clean, whether he liked it or not.

He promised himself to go and talk to Marco tomorrow, he knew the blond would know what to say, and the older man might just know how he could solve this without changing everything too much.

True to his word, he approached Marco the day after, knocking on the door of the blond commander’s room. An annoyed ‘come in’, had him doubting for a second, before he entered.

The blond looked at him, before sighing, “can I help you Ace?”

Ace nodded, before his eyes fell on the papers on the blond’s desk. As he wanted to open, Marco asked, “if you’re doubting that much, is it that important, I need to get this paperwork in order. I swear, everyone on his ship eats us out of funds.”

That last sentence had him stopping, if Marco said that, then people were already eating too much.

Putting on a smile, and hoping Marco couldn’t see that it was fake, he said, “never mind, it isn’t that important. Have fun with your paperwork.”

He could hear the man cursing until he had rounded the corner, his face falling, he should start eating even less then.

Ace found him again a few days later, his eyes furious.

“Are you eating even less now?”

Ace hesitated for a moment, before nodding, telling his former first mate what Marco had said, and how he felt responsible for that particular problem.

Deuce sighed, “Ace, I don’t think Marco-taicho meant it like that, I mean, maybe he was just having a bad day. But I do know you need to start eating normal! Any longer and you’ll get ill for real!”

Before any of them could say anything, Marco and Thatch rounded to corner, their eyes not betraying they had heard what Deuce had said. But both of them stopped and turned to Deuce.

“Is everything alright? We could hear you yelling.”

Before Ace could wave them away, Deuce nodded, “yeah there is, this idiot is starving himself, in some misconception to spare the feelings of the cooks on board, as well as to save money.”

Thatch looked at Ace, a pained look, the same pained look Ace wanted to avoid, directed at him.

“You’ve been starving yourself! Is it the food, I can cook you something else you know, I make several adjustments to other crew members. I mean we have several people who are lactose intolerant, or who can’t eat a certain vegetable because of an allergy.

Oh sea, you have an allergy don’t you, and we didn’t know! Why didn’t you say anything, Ace, this is important!”

Marco put a hand on the chef’s shoulder, calming him down a bit, before he turned to the black haired man, “is this about why you came to me some weeks ago-yoi?”

Ace bit his lip, before nodding, looking down, he hated this. He didn’t want to be a burden, his mind already told him he was, enough times a day. Soon the Whitebeard Pirates would also know, he was after all a former Pirate Captain, who couldn’t take care of himself.

Deuce sighed, “he doesn’t have an allergy or anything like that. He just eats like 20 full grown men, instead of what he ate these last few weeks. And we won’t talk about the first months he was on board.”

Thatch looked at him again, “you just eat a lot?”

Ace nodded, “I… I saw everyone already looking, and I heard Marco mention we were eating through the budget, and… I didn’t want to put myself even more in the spotlight, or the crew in problems, with eating even more.”

Thatch gaped, “so? You need to eat, Ace! Even if it is enough to feed an army. I’ll make sure to make foods that give more filling, if you’d like, so you won’t need to eat as much. And if you’re every hungry come find me, I’ll make you a snack!”

Marco was frowning, “I didn’t mean it like that-yoi. Haruto used up all of her budget on candy and cakes in the last island, instead of using some for the division, that’s what I was talking about-yoi.”

Deuce grinned, “see, hothead, miscommunication! Now, say yes to Thatch-taicho so you can start eating like a black hole again, you had all of us worried! Especially with how you’ve been losing weight!”

This had Thatch gaping again, “you’re losing weight, nope, not going to keep happening, with me right now, I’ll make you a snack!”

The cook took him by the wrist and took him along to the kitchens.

Later, at dinner, he loaded up more food than other times and took a seat next to Deuce, his former first mate nodding in approval.


	8. BBQ

After docking at one of the islands in their territory, Thatch, and most of the other cooks decreed that it would be BBQ that night, mostly in an attempts to eat alongside their many brothers and sisters while the cooking was still going.

As normally some of them would stay behind in the kitchen, always leading to some of them not eating with the others of the crew. Hopefully, with BBQ this wouldn’t be a problem.

Once upon the island however, Thatch asked around and found an awful few capable of actually manning a grill for said BBQ, leaving his grand idea to be one where he alone would be standing at the grill, making it so that he wouldn’t be able to eat with any of his closer friends on the ship.

After pouting for a good few minutes, the pompadoured chef knew he couldn’t just cancel the BBQ, as many of the ships crew had been looking forward to eating grilled meat ever since the announcement was made.

Most of the other cooks of the fourth division were preparing marinated meats, salads, sandwiched and vegetables to be eaten together with the meat he would grill.

The moment he lit it up however, everyone’s resident firecracker stood next to him, looking into the flames with interest.

Sighing, he shoves ace away, “not now, you black hole, wait until I started grilling before you snatch some away.”

Ace looked him for a moment, but didn’t say anything, he did however take a step back to indicate he had listened to what was said.

Nodding, Thatch started putting the first pieces of meat on the grill, the smell coming off of it attracting more than one crewmember, who started to gather by the table with cutlery and side dished. Preparing a plate, so they could get the first piece of meat the moment Thatch took it off the grill.

To the chef’s astonishment, Ace wasn’t among those pushing and pulling in an effort to be first to get a piece of meat. In fact, the fire logia kept on staring at the fire, not the meat on it.

Shaking his head, not thinking more of that fact, Thatch took off the first batch of meat, which disappeared like a pack of hungry lions descended on it. Putting the next load on, he noticed that other pieces of meat where still in the kitchen. So, he took a chance and made his way back to the ship – hoping that all the meat he had put on there would still be grilling once he came back.

As he made his way back to the beach, Marco stopped him, “has Ace asked you yet?”

Thatch arched an eyebrow, “the firecracker didn’t ask anything, just stared into the fire of the BBQ like he could make it jump over or cook the meat faster or anything.”

Marco hummed, before sighing.

“What is it that he wanted to ask, Marco?”

Marco sighed again, “apparently ace has quite the hand at grilling, he told me that himself, especially when he heard you’d be the only one manning the grill, he said he wanted to help, but didn’t know how to tell you as he’s banned from the kitchen after that narcolepsy attack ruined dinner.”

Thatch blinked, “and he’s actually good?”

Marco nodded, “I didn’t believe it first either, but Deuce assured me that Ace was a master at the grill, especially when there’s meat involved.”

Looking at the cook, he added, “that reminds me, we need to stock up on some crocodile meat.”

Thatch pulled a face, “Marco, no one on board eats that, and I’d hate to have to throw it away.”

Marco just smiled, “it’s Ace’s favourite, so I doubt you’d have to throw it away.”

This had Thatch blinking at his oldest brother again, “for real?”

Marco nodded, “Ace told me that once, when he first agreed to join us, and Deuce confirmed it. Even though he also told me Ace only eats it on occasion, as it is quite hard to come by in the New World, and as you said, not a lot of people eat it.”

“But Ace does.”

Marco nodded, making his way back to the beach, which reminded Thatch of the meat he had left cooking on the grill. Running a hand through his hair, he was already prepared to have to throw away all of it.

Only to find Ace manning the grill, taking off the pieces ready to be eaten, and putting others in their place from the bowls the other cooks had brought. The fire logia even made a show out of it, flipping the meat with his control over fire, and even turning the pieces without touching them.

More than one person on their crew was watching the known black hole as he expertly flipped the pieces of meat, before transferring them to a plate for all of them to grab from, to eat.

Even if most of them were watching the fire logia, more than they were watching the pieces of meat being put down. Within the next half an hour, all the meat had been grilled, leaving Thatch and Ace as one of the last ones to grab a plate and eat.

Making sure to hug his younger brother for what he had done, Thatch smiled and promised to look for crocodile meat the next time he went out to buy supplies.

The beaming look he received from the other grill master of the family was totally worth it, and even made him look forward to preparing the special meat. Only the very best for his undisputed best brother, even if he would never tell Marco or Haruta that – but it made him look forward to setting out the BBQ more often, knowing he wouldn’t be the only one capable of manning the grill.


	9. In Holy Matrimony

Ace was pacing the length of his room, his hands wringing as he kept thinking about what was going to happen in a few hours. His suit was still hanging on the door, while he kept on pacing, knowing he should take a shower. But the nerves were killing him.

Suddenly stopping, he took a seat on his bed, taking a few deep breaths before he passed out. He wanted this, he knows he wants this, but now that the day was finally here, he was getting a case of cold feet.

He wanted this, so very much, wanted to be able to call Marco his husband. But this was Marco the Phoenix, first mate to the Whitebeard Pirates, and one of the best doctors around.

A soft knock on the door had him calling out, Sabo and Luffy entering, with O-Tama following behind her. The girl already on her soft blue dress, the basked where she would take the flower petals from in her hands and a beaming smile on her face.

“Ace-nii, look how pretty this dress is, Izo made it and I love it!”

Ace smiled at the little Wano native, a soft smile usually only reserved for his brothers, in-laws, Oyaji and Shanks – but this little girl had deserved it after they met in Wano all those years ago. And again, when Luffy freed the country from Kaido tyrannical grip.

Sabo, ever the smart one, took a seat next to him, bumping his shoulder to his, a smile on his face.

“Getting cold feet?”

Ace stared forward pensively, before nodding.

“Not as much cold feet, as realising I will be Marco the Phoenix’s husband after today. It feels like such a big step, especially with who he is.”

Sabo chuckled, “you didn’t do too bad for yourself, Nii-san. You were the youngest pirate ever to be offered a spot on the shichibukai, as well as the youngest division commander the Whitebeard Pirates ever had. On top of that you’re the son of the former Pirate King, and the oldest brother of the current one – you have as much fame as Marco has, you know.”

Ace mulled that all over, “is this how you felt when you married Koala?”

Sabo hummed, “I think so… I was a nervous wreck and didn’t see why she would even want to marry me. But I am so glad we did, after everything we went through, as well as the revolution having taken place, we have some free time – time we love to spend together.”

Ace smiled again, “I guess you’re right, although I have to say I am glad I picked you as first groomsmen instead of Luffy.”

Turning around they, both saw that Luffy was bouncing around with O-Tama on his back, the girl laughing, while Luffy was going along with whatever she said he should do. Both of them were grateful that after everything that happened, Luffy still stayed the very same – even with the title he now held, he was still a silly goofball, with a heart of gold and brains that only thought about meat and hitting obstacles.

Sabo put a hand on his shoulder, “let get you ready, alright? Go on and take a shower, I’ll keep the kids busy so you can get dressed.”

Ace nodded, a grateful look in his silver coloured eyes as he made his way to the bathroom to do just as his blond brother suggested.

On the other side of the Moby Dick, Marco is having a similar dilemma, he had however showered, but was laying on his bed with just his underwear on. His hands in his hair, sighing every few moments.

A knock on the door had him looking up to see Thatch and Haruto entering his room, their smiles betraying the joy they felt at this day finally happening.

Thatch in particular must have been infected with Izo’s cheer, as the Wano native was the driving force behind this whole wedding. As soon as Marco had proposed, the man had started planning, taking everything out of their hands.

He’d even made a pick for their cake, which of course, Thatch had made.

But back to them again, Haruta looked around, a smile lighting up their face.

“You aren’t nervous, now are you, Marco?”

Marco just made a small noise, “how can I not be. This is Fire fist Ace, the youngest commander we ever had, as well as one of the youngest ever to be offered a position as a shichibukai.

Not only that, but he knows people everywhere, and important people – like the new Shogun of Wano, and most of his following, Shanks and Rayleigh.

And let’s not forget he’s the son of Gol D. Roger, the former Pirater King, as well as the brother of the current one, and of the number 2 in the Revolutionary Army – he’s like Dragon’s nephew if the rumours I heard are correct, that’s terrifying.”

Thatch started laughing, “Marco seriously, you and Ace have been making lovey-dovey eyes since he came on board, back when he wanted to kill Oyaji – everyone saw it happen. Hell, his brothers noticed the first time you were near one another.

Face it, there is no other possibility than for you two to marry – you belong together like the moon and the stars, really, Marco, if I believed in such things, I would say you were soulmates.”

Marco gave a soft smile, “I know that, and I know we belong together, but I just never thought I would be here, you know?

I didn’t even think he would say ‘yes’ when I said asked him to marry me. But he did, and now we’re here.”

Thatch and Haruta looked at their older brother with a soft smile on their face, ever since he met Ace, and fell for the fire logia, he had changed, for the better. He laughed more and came to spend more time with them, instead of just spending time doing paperwork, or looking after Oyaji while the man’s health declined.

Ever since meeting Ace, they also met his little brother’s doctor, Chopper, as well as Luffy’s doctor/surgeon boyfriend, who together with Marco was able to cure Oyaji – making all of them honorary Whitebeards in their eyes.

Haruta and Thatch pulled Marco off of his bed, “come on, go and get ready, this is your big day!”

Marco nodded, going back in the bathroom to shave, put on some cologne and aftershave, and get dressed.

Ace was standing in front of Sabo, letting the blond fix his tie while he was smiling, in 30 minutes Oyaji would marry them and he and Marco would be husbands, instead of just boyfriends.

Another knock on the door startled all four of them, with Luffy and O-Tama running to the door to open it, their youngest brother calling out, “Shanks!”

Sabo and Ace looked back at the door, seeing the captain of the Redhaired pirates standing there, a soft smile on his face as he looked at all of them.

“I know your parents would have wanted to be here for this day. And I know it isn’t the same, but if you want, I’d like to escort you to the altar?”

Ace gaped for a moment, knowing that if things had gone differently, this man in front of him would have been his older brother. So, he nodded, “I’d like that.”

Shanks beamed at him, holding out his one remaining arm, which Ace took a hold of.

Walking to the deck, O-Tama went first, dropping the flower petals she had in her basket, Kotatsu and Stefan were next, a ring glittering at their collars. With no ring bearer, they decided to use their animal companions in such a role.

Sabo and Luffy went next, their arms linked as they almost skipped towards where Marco, Thatch and Haruta were waiting, the groomsmen all smiling at each other.

Shanks and Ace appeared, with more than one person being shocked to see the other captain there, except those that knew just who Ace’s biological parents had been, and who Shanks now represented, as he had known them both. The other person able to do that, would be Rayleigh, but he and Ace never properly met or bonded – so Shanks was the obvious choice.

Ace stepped next to Marco, a soft look in both their eyes as they looked at each other, Marco in a white suit, with Ace in a black one – combined with a blue tie for Marco, and an orange one for Ace.

Neither of them really listened to what Oyaji was saying, jut nodding, or saying ‘I do’ when they needed to do so. The kiss that followed had all of the attending on their feet, cheering for this new pair, for their friends, or family, who had made this step together and who according to all attending fit perfect together.

The party that burst out after that was filles with great food, dancing and the joy only Pirates could find in these moments. Marco and Ace both danced with most of those attending, but always found their way back to the other for a dance, the looks full of love exchanged between them making it so that no one wanted to disturb them. They deserved this, and it filled all of them to see them together like that, swaying on the dancefloor.


	10. Finally shutting him up (part 1)

Marco grinded his teeth as Ace once again called out to him, mocking him with names like Pineapple or Birdy, like he had been doing for most of the week. The teasing glint in those grey eyes never letting up, challenging him every time they locked onto his own blue eyes.

They had kissed almost a week ago, after both of them partied with the others on deck, for a reason he didn’t remember, what he did know however was that the Fire Logia kept on creeping closer to him, trying to be touching him ‘innocently’ at every possible moment.

The kiss was the result of the sexual tension between them finally breaking and both of them acting upon it. It had been a great kiss and going by the look on Ace’s face after they parted, the black haired man thought the same.

However, their kiss had been broken abruptly by Thatch and Izo coming to look for them, taking away the chance they would have at talking about this – about what happened and about what both of them wanted out of this.

Marco has sighed and tried to get the other man alone for the passing week, wanting to know if Ace had the same attraction to him, as he had to the Fire Logia. He wanted this, his Phoenix wanted this, wanted the other man – in every way possible.

But he had no idea if Ace thought about that the same, if the other wanted a relationship, or just a quick fuck – or a fuck buddy. This was something he couldn’t and wouldn’t do. He was a Phoenix, and his bed partners were either faceless strangers or someone who could be his lifelong partner. His mate, if he had to give it a name – the only one he wanted was a lifelong partner, especially in the fire logia who was on board.

But with all that Ace was calling him, the names, the glint in his eyes, the way he grinned whenever Marco was looking, he kept on thinking this was not the case, Ace had been looking for a quick tryst in the sheets, when that didn’t work – he teased Marco to feel better about the disturbed moment they had.

With this in his mind, Marco turned away from the look Ace was levelling at him. Making the choice to just ignore the other man, for a few days at least – to get over the growing feelings he was feeling, in a way he was sure the other would never reciprocate. He could feel his Phoenix letting out a sad coo.

With everyone busy, he secluded himself on one of the lower decks, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag.

Sighing, he found he couldn’t blame Ace, he knew he was attractive – it wasn’t a secret just how many people came up to him on the islands they visited. But he was also almost two times older than Ace, he wasn’t all that young anymore – of course accounting for his Phoenix, he would stay young for a really long time. But he was aware it wasn’t the same.

Running a hand through his hair, Marco put out the bud of his cigarette, and lit another one, contemplating on what he should do – he couldn’t just outright ignore Ace, they were quite close. On top of that, they were commander of the first and second divisions, who often worked together – with Marco being first mate and letting the 2 nd division know where they needed to head to for their next stop.

Sighing once more, he decided to just keep everything strictly professional between the two of them, they were shipmates and friends – he could do that. He hoped he could do that.

Making his way back to his cabin, he found that a lot of his brothers had already turned in for the night. Haruta waved from his spot in the crow’s nest, most likely having watch.

As he arrived at his cabin, he was shocked to see just who was waiting for him at the door.

The dark-haired and freckled man looked up as he approached, a smile coming up on his face.

“Marco…”

Marco held up his hand, shaking his head, “I don’t want to do this now, Ace, just for once stop with the names, alright. I… I just want to head to bed, we’ll talk in a few days -yoi.”

Ace gaped at him, letting him pass, yet, when he entered his room, a strong hand wrapped around his wrist, “wait, Marco… I wanted to apologize for the names… I…”

The blond looked at the other man, Ace’s Adam’s apple bobbling as he swallowed, “I wanted to talk to you about what happened last week. But… Thatch heard me muttering to myself, and he convinced me that the best thing to do was challenge and provocative you with whatever I had been doing.

But I knew this was the wrong thing to do, when you turned away today – I really didn’t like the look on your face, and I didn’t want to be the cause of you feeling so badly. I also told Thatch that it was a stupid idea, that the only thing I accomplished was to hurt you – which, I swear, wasn’t my plan.”

Marco sighed, but didn’t pull away his arm, “then what was your idea-yoi?”

Ace worried his lips between his teeth, “I wanted you to kiss me again.”

Marco shook his head, seeing Ace’s face fall at that.

“Don’t you want to kiss again?”

Marco scoffed wetly, before looking through the hallway and pulling Ace into his room.

“There wouldn’t be anything I would like more, but Ace, I don’t do casual with someone I know -yoi. I had bed partners, nameless faces that I don’t have to think about after the one night stand -yoi. But I could never do that with you, I want a relationship, and love, and…”

He sighed, “my Phoenix wants this too, but as a Phoenix, as some birds do, we only take one mate, one partner, for the rest of our lives – it’s either that, or nothing at all. I can’t do casual with you, and I don’t need you to try and persuade me to do it anyway.”

Ace was shaking his head, an unidentified look in his eyes, “I want that too… The part that is Fire, the part I got from my Devil Fruit, it longs for you, and to be close to you. I acted on those feelings when I kissed you a week ago, I wanted this since I accepted – even before I accepted- a place on this ship.

But with me only now being a commander, I knew now would be the right time to do so, not before – and not when I only recently joined the crew. 

Please, Marco, I want this.”

Marco sighed, feeling the tension in the room grow as he refused to answer, instead mulling over everything that had been said, both by him, as well as by Ace. He wanted to get to the bottom of them, and for once act on the feelings that he had been feeling since he saw Ace’s powers in action.

The hand on his wrist loosened, Ace turning his back to him, “I… think about it and let me know, alright, I am going to my own cabin. Just… Let me know if I can get my hope up or if I need to get over this crush, I have on you.”

When the Fire Logia put a hand on the door, Marco moved, holding the door closed while pressing his own body against Ace’s, bending down a bit to whisper in the other man’s ear.

“I want this, Ace, so much, I was so sure that you wouldn’t want anything else than a tryst in the sheets, not looking for a relationship as I was -yoi.”

The breath over his ear made Ace break out in goose bumps, a shiver went down his spine, as he moaned lowly, making Marco smile.

“Then tell me what you want -yoi.”

Tracing his lips around the shell of the other’s ear, he could feel the shivers going through the other man’s, his mouth open as moans came through.

“I… I… Marco…”

Marco chuckled, putting one hand on the other’s hip, while the other caressed its way down the other’s chest, to rest on the opposite hip.

“You’re usually so forward and talkative -yoi. What’s wrong, Ace, can’t come up with the words -yoi?”

Ace moaned again, Marco could see the other biting his lip, a glazed look on his face, the slight tent in his pants letting him know that the Firecracker was having the same reaction as he was having, he was just better at controlling it.

Just as Marco wanted to let go, Ace turned, dislodging his hands, still pressed against the door, tangling a hand in his blond hair, while the other took a hold of his purple shirt and pulled him down that little bit further, slotting their lips together in a move that both of them were longing for.

This time Marco couldn’t hold off his own moan, the sound being mirrored by the other man. With his hands now freed up, he wrapped one around Ace’s waist, pulling him even closer – their bodies touching and making spark fly. His free hand found its way in Ace’s hair at the nape of his neck.


	11. Finally shutting him up (part 2) NSFW

Moaning, Marco pressed the other closer, rightening himself just that bit, so that Ace had to stand on the tips of his toes to keep the kiss going. Grinning against those sinful lips, Marco backed Ace up against the door.

With the dark haired man so unstable, balancing on the tips of his toes, he didn’t have any other choice then to follow the blond as he backed Ace up against the wall. Moving his arm around his waist lower, until he could grab a tights and hitch Ace up against the door and against his hips.

Both of them moaned as their cores met, the other interest in what was going on more than obvious to the other. 

Unlocking their lips for a moment, Marco couldn’t help but get lost in Ace’s eyes, the fire he so brilliantly wielded trying to come trough in those grey eyes, that he rested his head on the other’s forehead.

“Tell me what you want -yoi.”

Ace groaned, “don’t… Marco.”

“You want me to stop then -yoi.”

Ace started shaking his head, quite fast, at that question. Biting his lip and moaning as Marco jolted his hips just that little bit.

“No… don’t… don’t stop…”

Coming closer and letting his breath weave over her other’s face, Marco asked, “then tell me what you want -yoi.”

Ace moaned again, as small flames lit up on the other’s arms, in his hair, and in the freckles on his face.

“I want, we want you… Marco… My Fire and I, it longs to be together… Don’t make me wait.”

Marco groaned, feeling his Phoenix trilling joy at the confession it so desperately searched for, blue flames making their way over the blond’s arms, into his hair and all the way to his feet. He knew that had he had any less control his feet would have transformed, but they didn’t – so he counted that as a win.

He wanted nothing more than to ravish the other man in front of him, to finally satisfy this need his Phoenix and he had had, but something was still missing.

“Ace, this is me asking consent -yoi.”

Ace blinked a few times, before a soft grin made its way onto his face, “and I give it, totally and completely. We both want this, Marco, why wait.”

That was all Marco needed to hear before he dove into the kiss again, shifting his legs so he had both his hands free to roam over Ace’s body – he did make is easy, going around without a shirt – and mapping every piece he could of the skin the other didn’t have covered.

Ace on the other hand, wasted no time in pushing his purple shirt off his shoulders, so he too could start exploring the body of his soon to be lover. And with the way Marco wore it open all the time, he couldn’t possibly protest when the shirt was the first thing to be taken off.

Both of them enjoying it immensely, as they came across areas that made the other moan, or giggle, or trust their hips forward. Just noticing the small changes in movement, or sound, in their lover, told them all the spots they needed to remember for the next time.

Done exploring, for now at least, Marco turned around suddenly, catching Ace as the other man yelped as he lost the support of the door behind him. He looked at the blond shocked at the sudden movement, until he saw Marco’s eyes looking at the bed, which gave him enough of a hint as to what would happen next.

Marco grinned, but only hitched Ace higher onto his hips and continued kissing him, slowly making his way to the bed, where he dropped the other man. Taking off him of his shoes, socks, and shorts, leaving the other man in just his underwear, before he did the same with himself – not waiting any longer to join the Fire Logia in the bed and resuming their exploration of the other’s body, now that a whole new area was released to wandering fingers, hands, and lips.

Both of them moaned as their members got the friction, they both wanted, the spark that flew from those touches send both of them into a higher ecstasy.

“Marco… Marco… Want more…”

Marco hummed, but opened the bedside cabinet to retrieve the lube he stored there. Ace glanced at what he was getting, before he grinned, “came prepared?”

Marco shrugged, “never hurts to have some close by, you never know when you might need some -yoi.”

Ace chuckled, “true that.”

He moaned louder however, as Marco had warmed up some lube in his hand and was tracing, ever so lightly, around his entrance, the feeling only serving to stimulate the Fire Logia even more.

Glancing up, he could see Marco looking down on him, a loopy smile on the blond’s face.

“What are you looking like that?”

“Glad to finally have you, where I want you -yoi. You have no idea how many times I imagined you hear in bed with me -yoi.”

Ace grinned, opening his mouth to no doubt say something about that, but before he could utter a word, he gasped, feeling Marco press a finger inside, the feeling slightly odd, but not unwelcoming.

“Really… you fantasised about this?”

The end of his question ended in a moan, Marco only grinning as he began a whole now exploration, knowing he had found what he was looking for, when Ace arched off the bed and moaned the loudest, he had until now. That was one way he now knew to make the other man shut up about something.

“Of course, I did, Ace, you have to know you’re hot as hell -yoi. And that’s without adding you being a Fire Logia into the mix -yoi.”

Ace just moaned again, too lost in pleasure to talk, even if he kept half-lidded eyes on Marco as the blond kept on preparing him. Arching off the bed with every stroke over his prostate.

Marco pulled his fingers back, chuckling as Ace let out a moan of disappointment at the loss of them, taking out a pack of condoms, he discarded them – knowing that he couldn’t get ill, and Ace burned through every virus that entered his body. They were safe to do this bareback.

“Ready -yoi?”

Ace only nodded, one hand in his hair and the other gripping Marco’s forearm and the blond entered him, both of them moaning at the feeling of finally joining, their Fire and Phoenix both expressing their joy at the flames making their way over their skin, intermingling with each other.

Marco kept one hand on Ace’s tight, keeping it up and giving him more access in his trusts, which started out slow, but accelerated in speed the longer they lasted, the more noises they both made and the way their fire seemed to be pulling them closer to each other.

Reaching their completion was a spectacle of red and blue flames taking over large parts of their bodies, which for some reason made the ecstasy all the more feelable and enjoyable.

As Marco finally pulled back and flopped down next to Ace, he pressed a kiss to the other’s shoulder, cuddling up to the Fore Logia as they enjoyed their bliss together.


	12. Trans!Ace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to [ chapter 12 ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28466091/chapters/72860439) of Brotherhood stronger than blood.

Deuce had to wince as he saw his captain go overboard the railing once more, this had been the third time today – that they had seen, and he was getting worried, so very worried, that the captain would pull his stitches with all the things that were going on now.

It had been roughly 2 weeks since Ace had been taken aboard the Moby Dick, and one week since the rest of the Spades followed him into the ship after their own boat sank in a rough storm (much to their grief).

But with them all now also being on board, they had front row seats to Ace blocking the Whitebeard Pirates attempt at getting him to join, Ace’s efforts at refusing and trying to take Whitebeard’s head had only doubled as soon as the rest of the Spades were brought on board the Moby.

But now, Deuce didn’t know what he needed to do, he knew that the right thing to do would be to tell Marco the Phoenix, first commander and renown doctor that Ace had a major operation done not that long ago. And that all the being tossed into walls, the sea and the railing wasn’t good for the stitches he still had but were covered by the shirt the Fire Logia wore.

Sighing, Deuce went and looked for Ace as soon as he knew the other had been fished out of the ocean, following the directions his mediocre haki told him the other man was – which he was happy for, as finding Portgas D. Ace when he was trying to hide was next to impossible without any tools.

Sitting down next to the Hothead, he lifted the edge of the other’s shirt and grimaced at the streak of read he could see through the bandages wrapped around the other’s waist.

“I think you tore open some stitches, captain.”

Ace grimaced, pressing a hand to his side as he nodded, the grimace on his face telling him they hurt too.

“We need someone to look at this, Ace, if this gets infected- .”

Deuce stopped talking as he heard footsteps coming their way, looking around and biting his lip as the resident doctor stepped into the storage cabinet they were hiding. A grim look on his face, making Deuce realise he still had a hold on Ace’s shirt and had given the commander a look at the read streaked bandages on the other’s side.

“You tore open stitched -yoi.”

Ace scowled, “that is none of your business.”

Marco glared back, “you’ll find that it is, Portgas, especially when this can be helped -yoi.”

Ace looked away stubbornly, not wanting to admit that he was indeed in need of someone to close the stitches again.

A little box was tossed into Deuce’s lap, the Spades doctor blinking as he noticed it to be a field surgery kit.

“You make sure his stitches are closed up again and bring that back to me -yoi.”

With that, the blond commander turned and walked away again, leaving Ace and Deuce with the perfect tools to make sure his wounds wouldn’t get infected, got sewed up again and give Deuce the opportunity to look at the wounds as they healed.

After making sure there was no one else coming around the corner, Deuce unwrapped the gauze from Ace’s chest, checking the stitches and sewing the few who let loose close again.

“I swear captain, you’d be the only one who’d get top surgery and then challenge the Strongest Man on the Seas, as a way to test themselves.”

Ace just grumbled, but by the way he wasn’t actually saying anything, Deuce knew he was right, and that Ace also thought he was right, the Fire Logia just didn’t want to admit to that out loud.

“At least promise me you’ll be more careful next time. If you pull a stitch and start to bleed in an area with a lot of seakings or sharks, I don’t know what might happen.”

Ace just hummed, making Deuce sigh, at least he had, had his say, now it was only a matter of seeing if Ace would do as he suggested.

Later, when Ace had joined the Whitebeard Pirates, and he and Marco were alone for a moment, the blond asked what all of that had been, and what kind of stitches he had pulled at that time.

Ace shrugged, “I had top surgery about a week before you guys picked me up, I pulled some stitched from there.”

Marco had spat out the drink he had been drinking, “you did what now -yoi.”

Misunderstanding the question, Ace grew quiet, thinking that after everything, this would be the reason he wouldn’t be welcome on the ship anymore. Not daring to say anything, he was totally surprised when Marco started ranting about proper care post-op, and how pulling his stitches could result in a lot of damage.

The blond had forced Ace into the infirmary, even, to make sure everything was healed up nicely and there were no problems from those pulled stitches.

Sitting there with his shirt of and the blond’s warm hand going over his scars, Ace asked.

“You don’t mind?”

Marco hummed, before looking up, “what, that you’re trans -yoi?”

At Ace nod, he hummed again, “of course not, you’re not the first transgender person we had on this ship, and I doubt you’ll be the last -yoi. You’re just the most reckless of them all.”

Ace had grinned at that, happy to know his new family accepted him just the same. Even more so when Marco pointed out that Haruta was also trans, while Milli and Ginny, two nurses, were also. Izo was genderfluid, and a couple of members were agender – so he wasn’t alone in this.

The best part came when they stopped at an island, where Haruto took a hold of his hand and led him towards a hospital, telling him excitedly that these doctors were the best in gender reassignment surgery, and had been the place where he had come for bottom surgery.

When he pushed a bag of coins into Ace’s hand and cheerfully told them they had all put in some coin so he could have his today, the Fire Logia had been speechless, but so very happy with the support he was getting from his family. 


	13. Was he really like that? (Or Ace hears stories about his dad, and his mom, from people who actually know them)

Marco found Ace in their shared room after the impromptu party with the red hair pirates, neither crews had been aware they had been so close to each other, so when they met at the closest island, not much time had been wasted in opening up some bottles of sake, lighting a bonfire and starting a cooking competition between both their cooks.

However, with the sake flowing, Oyaji and Shanks had gotten lost in telling stories of the old times, back when Shanks was little more than a cabin boy, and Oyaji a starting Pirate captain, both of them knowing, and even looking up to a known name on the seas.

Neither man had noticed the way Ace had flinched as they talked about Roger, nor had they seen the way he had paled as the name of Roger’s lady love was mentioned. None of them had even noticed that Ace had gotten up and left soon after, his eyes wide, his face pale and tears into his eyes.

It had been that last which had prompted Marco to go and look for the second division commander, to see if everything was alright. He was one of the few in the know of Ace’s ancestry, and while Oyaji knew, Shanks suspected, neither had noticed what their talks were doing to the resident firecracker.

Knocking on the door, he asked, “Ace, you alright -yoi?”

As no answer came, Marco opened the door, finding Ace laying face down on the bed, his shoulders shaking slightly. Sighing, the blond took a seat on the bed and placed a hand on the other’s shoulder, feeling the other flinch, most likely not having heard him, not expecting the touch.

Instead of turning away however, the dark haired man turned towards Marco and hid his face in his tight, he could feel the hot tears making their way through the fabric of his pants, yet all he did was sit there, rubbing his hands through Ace’s hair and down his back - comforting him in a way he knew would be appreciated right now.

Ace was a man of many emotions, but little words about them, and the blond had learned to wait until the fire logia started talking to be able to find out what was really bothering him, saying something now would not get heard, nor would it help any.

He could feel Ace’s sobs lessening, before he felt arms sneaking around his waist as Ace rightened himself and hugged him close, no doubt to thank him for what he was doing, and did, in less words. Hugging the other close too, Marco just waited, he had time after all, and right now Ace mattered more than everything else.

These were two yonke crews outside, they’d be more than enough to seal with anything on their path right now, they wouldn’t need Phoenix Marco or Fire Fist Ace.

Still stroking Ace’s back now that they were hugging, he could feel the other hiding his face in his neck, the occasional tear making its way down a freckled face to land in his neck, not that he minded, Ace obviously needed this.

As he pulled back, Marco looked at Ace, and smiled softly at the tear tracks that were seen on the other’s cheek for a moment, they dissipated when the Logia made sure his fire erased them.

“Was he really like that?”

Marco hummed, “Who -yoi?”

Ace looked down, “Roger, was he really like Oyaji and Shanks described him?”

Marco hummed again, “you have to understand; that Roger and Oyaji go way back, back to a time in the first age of Piracy -yoi. Same with Shanks, he practically grew up on Roger’s ship, the man was the only father figure he ever knew -yoi.”

Taking Ace by the shoulders he smiled at the younger man, “you have to understand, Ace, that the recounts you got pertaining Roger were biased, and most likely coloured by what the government and Marines wanted the population to believe about Roger -yoi.

Not only that, but he was still only a man, a man who reached the end of the Grand Line, but still just a man, he wasn’t some kind of monster, but someone trying to find his own way in this world -yoi.

I found Roger a little childish, in that he believed he could conquer the world, but in the end, he managed to do just that, so maybe it was more perseverance, than actual childness -yoi.

What I want to say is that, maybe, you should try to let go of this image you have of Roger, when all you ever heard where the things the population was meant to see about the Pirate King, neither the marines, or the government would want to paint him in a good light -yoi.”

Pulling Ace close again, he could feel the other’s tears start up again, maybe because the other man was finally letting go of the grudge he held against his own father, all because of what was told about him, when most of the people who know Roger genuinely liked the man.

Shushing him, Marco hugged him closer, the hands gripping his shirt letting him know that Ace hurt about something. 

As he calmed down a but, he whispered, “hearing them talk about her, reminded me that I took her from so many people that loved her.”

Marco’s eyes widened, when he understood what Ace was referring to, “Love, no -yoi. 

Rouge gave her life so you could live, no other reason, you didn’t take her from anyone. She made the choice to carry you longer than most so no one could suspect you were Roger’s son, she made the ultimate sacrifice so you could live -yoi.

Never, ever, think that you took that away, she chose to do this, to protect his legacy, and make sure you could be born into this world. She grew the greatest gift, in my opinion, and made sure no one was able to take that away -yoi.

Oyaji and Shanks, they were remembering her in their own way, just as they were remembering Roger -yoi. They will always miss those dear to them, but that doesn’t mean they blame you for her passing, so please don’t do that to yourself -yoi.”

Ace just leaned against Marco, not saying anything about it, so Marco continued rubbing his hand through the dark hair and over the broad back, that was until Ace had fallen asleep and he tucked hhim in, leaving him alone to come to terms with what he had heard.

As he left, he turned back and looked at his sleeping lover, grinning as he thought back about the couple he had met as a child, how much they glowed as they stood together and how animatedly they talked about a child they would have together. Looking at that child, he could only agree with the words spoken then, that he would be a gem, one of a kind, and special to booth - all of which perfectly described Ace.


	14. Captured

Ace woke up feeling nauseous, and not knowing why, he had been out on a solo mission for the first time since he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, so the news of him having joined hadn’t reached every corner of the blues yet.

The last thing he did remember was sitting down in a bar, close to Sabaody, enjoying a pint of ale before making the trek back to the Moby Dick. He must have blacked out, but still, he couldn’t get drunk so why was he feeling so nauseous.

Footsteps approached, making him look up in a daze, and blanch at the man he could see standing there. After everything that happened with Sabo, he would never forget just how a Celestial Dragon looked like, so to see one standing here in front of him was mildly terrifying.

“Ah, my treasure, you are awake.”

Ace kept his mouth shut, knowing that in moments like this, he should just keep quiet, people like this made a point of rambling on and on and on about what they wanted to do, or what they were going to do, so the least he could do was listen and find out what had happened to him, and what would happen to him in the future.

Keeping his head down, for once in his life, he found out that his wrists were bound behind his back, by the feel of it, with seastone, which explained the naussia. He never did react well to it, now was no exception.

As predicted, the man started rambling on and on about how he had seen his bounty picture months ago, and was reminded of someone else with the same freckles he was never able to find again. It had Ace biting his lip, as the man was most likely talking about his mother.

He kept going on that he needed to have a person with such amazing freckles in his collection back in Mary Geoise, to keep there for as long as he wished, which Ace knew would be until his death.

He kept rambling on how he had ordered the barkeep to put something in his drink to knock him out, seeing as these people knew he was a devil fruit user, this most likely also involved seastone.

Biting his lip even harder, he was finally left alone as the man grew bored and made his way above deck, leaving Ace to his thoughts - for once hating the fact that he had told both Deuce and Marco that he didn’t need any back-up for this mission.

He felt miserable for that now, as no one would know he had been taken, least of all to Mary Geoise, which was the only place they couldn’t just enter. Tiger Fisher had found a way, but he took that to his grave.

Shaking his head, Ace rested his forehead on the floor, hating this, and hating what would become of him. He had heard the stories of what happened to those owned by a celestial dragon, and they never ended well. 

He wanted to be free, but he managed to get himself caught in a way that took his freedom away forever.

\---

Back on the Moby, Haruto received a message from Deuce, who had been sent to tail Ace, just a precaution. After all, one could never be careful enough, so setting out all alone wasn’t a thing to be done. 

As he read it however, he paled and ran for the captain’s room, knowing that both Marco and Oyaji would be present at this time of day.

Throwing open the door to the room, he waved the missive around, “Ace was taken by a Celestial Dragon.”

Oyaji rightened himself, the look of utter fury on his face almost made Haruto feel sorry for the poor sod that took Ace, as well as everyone involved with the kidnapping of their newest brother.

“Ready the commanders, we’re changing course as fast as we can.”

Turning to Marco he added, “go on ahead, find Deuce and see if you can extract Ace before they reach Mary Geoise, we’ll be right behind you.”

Marco nodded before turning and almost running out of the room, the whoosh of flames let them know he had transformed and was already on route towards the island Deuce was on - for all their luck, they hadn’t been all that far either.

\---

Marco touched down on the agreed meeting place, finding Deuce there with his hands in his hair, worrying about his best friend, and former captain. Getting out of the man what had happened was the easy part, but coming up with a plan that didn’t involve declaring war to the World Government was a bit harder.

Deuce just kept on wincing, every time they discarded a plan, the worry in his eyes only grew, as they knew time wasn’t much in the face of the ship reaching Mary Geoise, not this close to the Red Line.

Marco huffed, “we’ll just have to wing it then -yoi. Deuce, get up, and climb on my back, we’re going to retrieve Ace -yoi.”

The former Spade Pirate did as he asked, climbing on as soon as Marco transformed again, taking them into the air, looking for the no doubt extravagant ship the Celestial Dragon must have been using.

\---

Ace felt relieved that the celestial dragon didn’t join him below deck anymore, as seeing the man only increased his anxiety of what was to come. As such, he didn’t even look up when he heard footsteps approach late at night - he wouldn’t put it past a World Noble to come down and perv on their sleeping slave, or whatever he was supposed to be.

Which made it even more surprising to feel a hand over his mouth. 

Panicked, he made a move to bite into the fingers in place there, until a sharp hush was whispered. 

He knew that voice, turning slightly, he could have cried at seeing Deuce there, a ring of keys in his hand as he released the shackles binding him.

“Can you stand, captain? Marco is flying just above the water, so he isn’t spotted, but we don’t have a lot of time before the guards make their rounds again.”

Ace stood, or tried to, happy that Deuce supported him as he stood on unstable legs, his blue haired former first mate leading him towards the lower deck, stopping every few steps to check if there wasn’t anyone else out at this hour. 

They were in luck, finding Marco again without running into anyone. Deuce helped Ace settle on Marco’s back, before hopping on too, supporting Ace as the younger man blacked out, no doubt from staying awake in fear of what might happen if he slept.

He told as much to Marco, which made the other doctor fly at a much faster pace. 

As soon as they set eyes on the Moby however, he slowed down, still almost crashing into the deck where he turned back into a human, his chest heaving from the tension and exertion from the last 24 hours.

The other commanders helped all three of them towards the medbay where they were checked over by Whitey Bay, who had come over the moment she heard what was happening. She cleared all of them, just deeming them exhausted and on bedrest for at least a day.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a [ discord channel ](https://discord.gg/ZQgS86qj4J)
> 
> Or send me an email: lerya.fanfic@gmail.com
> 
> Or find me on [ tumblr ](www.lerya-fanfic.tumblr.com)


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